Twenty massive cats – together with a Bengal tiger and 4 cougars – have died of hen flu over the previous a number of weeks at an animal sanctuary within the state of Washington.
“This tragedy has deeply affected our group, and we’re all grieving the lack of these unbelievable animals,” the Wild Felid Advocacy Heart of Washington wrote in a publish on Fb.
The devastating viral an infection, carried by wild birds, spreads primarily via respiratory secretions and bird-to-bird contact and can be contracted by mammals that ingest birds or different merchandise.
The sanctuary is beneath quarantine and is closed to the general public to stop the unfold of the virus, the assertion stated.
The animals died between late November and mid-December, the sanctuary’s director, Mark Mathews, instructed the New York Times.
“We have by no means had something prefer it; they normally die principally of previous age,” he stated. “Not one thing like this, it is a fairly depraved virus.”
The information comes as hen flu continues to unfold amongst cattle and poultry within the US, whereas additionally severely infecting not less than one human.
The sanctuary stated it had misplaced 5 African serval cats, 4 bobcats, two Canada lynx and a Bengal tiger, amongst others. Solely 17 cats now stay on the Heart.
“Cats are significantly susceptible to this virus, which may trigger refined preliminary signs however progress quickly, usually leading to loss of life inside 24 hours as a result of pneumonia-like situations,” the sanctuary stated in its Facebook statement on Friday.
Fowl flu has lengthy contaminated poultry flocks within the US. However the virus started to contaminate cattle within the US for the primary time in March.
And since April 2024, there have been a complete of 61 human instances of hen flu reported within the US, in keeping with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
The CDC says that the chance to most of the people stays low, and there was no sustained human-to-human transmission.
Most have reported delicate signs, although one particular person was taken to the hospital with a extreme case of hen flu in Louisiana this month.
Final week, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared an emergency over the outbreak among the many state’s dairy cows to assist the federal government have the “assets and adaptability they should reply shortly to this outbreak”.
